Cognitive Development

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Vygotsky, Grouping

Vygotsky/Grouping Blog Prompts (due September 15th by 11pm, comments due September 18th by 11pm

For you music students, here are some videos on Vygotsky and music education:
Inner speech--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2mdkD_5z80
Scaffolding-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ7yumatNlg

Vygotsky Blog Post 1 (Deep Reading)
  • Describe at least one question, confusion, or something you’re wondering. (When commenting this week, LOOK for others’ comments and address them.
  • Last week, many of you claimed that you could change a student's Piagetian stage by giving them more advanced tasks. This is NOT true from Piaget's perspective. Piaget believes that development drives learning. Vygotsky, however, believes that learning drives development. How would Vygotsky recommend that you teach students? (explain specifics) Does grouping matter? Does age matter? What kind of strategies should you use as a teacher? Why?
    OR 
    According to Vygotsky, higher mental processes develop through internalization (moving from the external world to the internal mind). Specifically, information that exists within culture or within symbols or signs (language and mathematics) in the world are eventually internalized. Describe a scenario and describe the mechanism of how something might be internalized within the scenario. If you're stuck, remember that Vygotsky believed egocentric speech (or talking aloud about what one is doing) is ONE TYPE of evidence for the process of internalization. 
Vygotsky Blog Prompt 2 (Activity)
  • You read about grouping practices in Module 21. The following clip shows a WELL KNOWN example of a group of very different kinds of people coming together in a shared experience, in which they obviously learn SOMETHING. I'm sure you can think of other movies or pop culture references which depict similar groups. Thinking of such examples, would Piaget or Vygotsky recommend extreme diverse (by age, past experience, development, culture, etc) grouping for students? Why (be specific, please)? Are certain kinds of diversity more beneficial than others for learning? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfhIcgGpWhs



Piaget


Piaget Blog Prompts 

Post by Thursday (9/8) by 11pm, comment by Sunday (9/11) by 11pm



For the COMMENTS this week, I'd like you to scan through and find someone else's question or confusion, and answer (or TRY to answer) based on your reading of the chapter.

Address EACH blog prompt (bullet point) listed, because they target different kinds of understanding. If you give much more emphasis to one than another, that's ok, but spend some time on each.

Blog Post 1 (Deep Reading of Module 7 on Piaget)
· Describe the big picture. Did this make sense?
· Ask/discuss at least one of your unanswered questions or confusions for the class. IF you think you don't have a question, then what else do you want to know?
· Pick one: According to Piaget, why must development drive learning? How are they related? How does each happen? How does a child move from one stage to another? When is development happening, and when is it learning?
OR
Considering what Piaget and Vygotsky say about development and learning, why might play be beneficial? (How could it promote development, learning, or both?) Describe the (separate) reasons for each theorist. DO NOT regurgitate the book. Give a new example.
OR
What are some differences (or similarities) between how Piaget considers development and learning and how Vygotsky considers development and learning? Explain some reasons why EACH theory is useful or relevant to classroom practice.

Blog Post 2 (Activity)
Watch the video below.

· What stages of development do the two children appear to be in? How would Piaget explain what is happening here?
· What sort of techniques could you use to teach each child? Why must the techniques differ?



Brain Development and Research

Brain Research Blog Prompts (Due 9/1 by 11pm, comments due 9/4 by 11pm)


Blog Post 1 (Deep Reading of Module 6) Do this AFTER you have read the chapter
  • Describe the big picture. 
  • Did this make sense? What surprised you the most, or what did you find most interesting, and why? How does this reading connect your previous experiences with school or teaching? Discuss some of your unanswered questions about the reading for the class. Do you understand the material? What else do you want to know?
  • Discuss one: Obviously, the site where learning happens is within the brain. But, what does "learning" mean when considering the brain? How does the brain itself change when learning happens (be specific)?
    OR What is happening in the picture below? How and why does each change occur?

Blog Post 2 (Activity) Do this AFTER you have read, and after blog post 1

     Learning happens when students can establish a relatively permanent connection among their neurons. Teachers want to instruct in a way that helps build synaptic connections and that encodes the information MULTIPLE ways (through MULTIPLE paths in the brain). Watch the following video. Considering the information in the video, and the book, describe a scenario of how you could teach a particular thing (specify what that is when you're writing) through utilizing more than one brain pathway (because if the idea is strengthened through two different neural pathways, it is more likely to be remembered). As an example, you could communicate the same information both through text and pictures. Alternatively, you could appeal to both reasoning and emotion when discussing why a particular historical event happened.



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